Operatives function primarily as top-notch damage dealers in Star Legends, much like the Avian Archer from Pocket Legends. Their attacks mostly target single enemies only, but they pack a powerful punch. They also carry DoT, or damage over time, skills which continually damage enemies over a certain period of time. They also carry debuff skills which greatly help the entire party take down bosses. Unlike Commandos, they are very susceptible to damage due to low armor from their equipment and unlike Engineers, they don't carry much healing or supportive skills. Nevertheless, Operatives are needed to quickly vanquish foes and make dungeon-clearing a lot faster.

All of the current Operative skills are either a self-buff or a single enemy target. Operatives can debuff an enemy's hit%, crit, and armor as well. Damage can be dealt by a single strong hit, or by DoT (damage over time). Skills that utilize DoT are usually weaker per hit but give out more damage over time, hence the name.

Mind Wrack (6): This will attack ONE enemy (despite its deceptive AoE-style attack) for a certain amount of damage. If a critical hit is achieved, more damage will be given. This is one of the most damaging skills an Operative has to offer, so be sure to keep it at a reasonably high level.

Flames of Insanity (1): A single enemy will have a chance to be stunned and damage over time (DoT) will be given. The stun duration remains the same for all skill levels, but damage increases per skill level. Stunning an enemy can be very useful especially at harder campaign levels. Bosses can be stunned as well, but its important to note that some bosses are immune to it. Its possible that the chance to stun may be increased per level but this skill can be left at 1 for now.

Lurch (1): A single enemy will be damaged and knocked back. The knock back caused the enemy to actually fall and the enemy won't be able to attack until it gets up again, so it works very similarly to a stun. Like Flames of Insanity, this works on certain bosses, but not all.

Inner Focus (0): This skill will regenerate your health and mana at the expense of a small decrease in damage. My previous suggestion was to max this skill out to save credits on Stimpacks and Power Packs during SL Beta, but this may no longer be necessary due to the sharp influx of Credits into SL's economy. If you are having difficulty in saving credits then this skill can be maxed, but at higher-leveled/faster-paced campaigns, you'll find yourself using this skill less and less. If you're looking for a high-damage output Operative at higher levels, it would be best to not place any points into this skill.

Amplify Pain (6): Very useful skill for bosses, similar to the PL Archer's Break Armor, but also includes an increased chance to critical (+10 Crit bonus at max level). This is probably one of the most important skill for an Operative, as it is tremendously useful for your entire party. Be sure to max this skill as soon as possible.

Psychic Lash (0 or 1): Similar to PL Archer's Thorn Root which only roots only a single enemy. Root damage over time is relatively low, and it is likely that DoT damage is increased per skill point. This skill can also be used with an Engineer's Transference skill to create the *BACKLASH* combo.

Blur (0): Similar to PL Archer's Evasion. Vastly improves your Operative's dodging capabilities, enhancing their survivability. Dodge increases per skill point. Unless you die very frequently, this skill can be left at 0, otherwise skill points can be left for more useful/damaging skills.

Neural Shock (4): Damages a single enemy and debuff's its ability to hit and crit. Combined with Amplify Pain, this skill will prove to be very useful for bosses.

Sympathetic Anguish (4): Damages a single enemy and there is a chance that the skill will have a DoT effect for either that specific enemy, or another enemy close to it. Therefore, this DoT effect does not work 100% of the time. Unsure of the exact % chance of this DoT effect as well as how much extra damage is given.

Psychic Binding (0 or 1): This is the Operative's AoE skill that essentially slows down enemies within a 12m radius. There is no damage associated with this skill. You can either place a point into this skill or Psychic Lash, but it's unnecessary to place more points into this skill.

Precision (6): This skill greatly enhances your critical chance and gives a modest increase to your hit%. Despite the long 60 second cool-down and short duration of action, you should max this skill as soon as you get it. An Operative's chance to critically hit is his or hers best stat to raise next to damage, and it will prove very useful during boss fights.

if you want to give almost exact armor debuff numbers, try comparing damages before and after, and keep in mind these skills are almost always sequential in upgrading.

That's a great idea - I think a sample size of 40-50 attacks will be sufficient per skill point level to get the right damage range. I'll respec tomorrow and try this out. I was going to wait for PvP to be released so that testing everything would be a lot easier but I suppose I can knock this one down. I still wish the skill descriptions were a bit more...well, descriptive.

Was scrolling through some other threads, preparing for SL, apparently they're either "gloves" or "pistols".

What's up with the gloves? Anyone? Do they shoot from the tips or are they melee?

The gloves are an engineer-only item, though some Platinum gloves can be purchased that are able to be used by Operatives and Commandos. I think they act as "hand cannons" so they are all ranged weapons. I'd ask noneo for more information, he has a useful Engineer's guide in the Engineer subforum.

Physiologic i have to say i love your guides it helps me out a lot. Like the Pocket Legends one your skill build for achers made me do soooo good after i read it. Going to be using this one soon once full version comes out and stuff so i dont spend more plat on changing skills. Going to wait till you update it with new data then follow it.